​Battlefield Role: Light Infantry
Weapons: A Handaxe and a reinforced wooden round shield.
Outfit: Brigandine Armour. Leather boots and gloves.
Skill level: Mediocre melee training.
Affiliation: Every region of Arandolia has them.
Doctrine: Bellona's Way of the Warmaiden
Strengths: Axes are splendid weapons for taking down heavily armored infantry foes. Especially effective at shattering shields and bashing enemies through armour.
Weaknesses: Due to their lack of heavy armour and the low defensive capabilities of their axes, they rely a lot on their shields for their own protection and survivability.
Axemaidens
Axemaidens are standing light infantry regiments composed of axe-armed amazon commoners. They are some of the most basic and widespread units employed in Arandolia, being highly praised for their ferocity in battle, as well as for the great effectiveness of their handaxes in shattering shields and crushing armour.
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On the other hand, they are not very well armoured themselves, wearing just padded vests and hard leather over their own personal clothing and uniforms. The very best they usually can get is brigandine, and this means means they are easy targets for enemy arrows, spears and swords, relying quite a lot on their shields for remaining safe and sound on the battlefield.
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To make matters even worse, although their shields are sturdily reinforced with a painted outer layer of leather and a rim of steel, the body of the shield itself is made out of wood, not metal. After prolonged fighting, the wood might start to splinter and the whole shield may fall apart. At such point, the Axemaiden will be really vulnerable in combat with nothing but her handaxe in hands, having no other choice but to fall back in line and let the shielded woman behind her take her place in the front line.
Most of the times, the Axemaidens are either charging the enemy to build up the deadly momentum of their initial attacks, or otherwise forming a shieldwall to enhance their own defensiveness as a group. This works well against infantry, but they simply stand no chance against the earth-shattering force of cavalry.
That's why average Axemaidens aren't the best soldiers for covering up the flanks of forming up the very front lines in a defensive battle. Unless, of course, we are talking about the amazing Eldarian Axemaidens instead.